Method to reduce or eliminate audio interference from computer components

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a system and method that mitigates audio interference before and/or during an audio session, and in particular, when a high quality audio session is desired. The system includes an audio component that determines whether an audio session is to commence and a control component that interfaces with the audio component and reduces activity associated with a subset of a plurality of computer components that may interfere with the audio session. The system may also include at least one power management system to facilitate reducing power consumption and activity of the computer component(s). The method involves determining that an audio session is desired and switching one or more computer components to a minimal interference mode prior to commencing the audio session. The method may also involve calling at least on API to facilitate the switching of the computer component(s).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to computer noise managementparticularly altering operational modes of a number of computercomponents to facilitate mitigating undesirable interference with anapplication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The demand for superior quality and resolution of output from computingdevices increases dramatically as users employ their computing devicesfor ever diverse purposes. For example, when microphones are integratedinto part of a computing device or when microphones are placed near orin near proximity of the computing device, there is a likelihood thatactivity of the computing device may cause interference to or a qualityreduction of an audio input. For applications which require high qualityaudio input or which high quality input is desired by the user,interference from the computing device may hinder obtaining the desiredinput fidelity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

The subject invention provides for a system and method that facilitatesmaximizing fidelity of a data transfer session. The invention infers,determines and/or is notified that a data transfer session (e.g., audioinput, audio output, video session, wireless session, . . . ) is aboutto commence or has begun commencing, and initiates a minimalinterference mode to mitigate interference by system components to thesession. It is to be appreciated that the subject invention can employvarious artificial intelligence based schemes to facilitate carrying outthe subject invention. Accordingly, classifiers (e.g., trainedexplicitly and/or implicitly) can facilitate effecting a minimalinterference mode in accordance with a user's current state as well aspreference given the state. Moreover, utility-based analyses can beperformed that factor in the benefits of entering a minimal interferencemode versus the cost thereof and/or the cost of incorrectly enteringsuch mode.

One particular aspect of the invention provides a system and method thatallow an application (e.g., calling application) to indicate to anoperating system of a computing device that high quality input, output,or an exchange of high quality sound and/or communication is about tocommence, thereby facilitating the operating system to take any numberof appropriate measures to ready itself for a period of quiet. Forexample, system or computer components such as hard disk drives and fansmay cause intermittent, random bursts of, and/or ambient noise and/orvibration that can interfere with sound capture from microphones whichare either internal or external with respect to the computing device.Thus, a period of minimal noise and/or vibration can be obtained via thepresent invention before and/or during the audio session for at least aportion of the length of the audio session. By mitigating audiointerference before and/or during an audio session, high quality inputcan be readily obtained particularly when using portable devices such aslaptops, tablet PC's and the like. Such aspect of the invention isaccomplished at least in part by determining whether an audio session isdesired. When an audio session is desired, an application programminginterface (API) can be called—the API can correspond to instructingvarious components of an operating system to reach a minimalinterference mode and/or period of quiet for the length of the desiredaudio session. The various computer components which are instructed toreach a minimal interference mode can include, but are not limited to, afloppy disk drive, a disk cache, a hard disk drive, a speaker, a fan,and a CD-ROM drive.

More specifically, one or more power management systems, and/or one ormore system control functions which are associated with and control oneor more computer components and/or one or more applications can bedirected to bring the respective components to a minimal interferencemode. In addition, one or more applications can be selectively mutedbefore and/or during the audio session. For example, the powermanagement system can implement at least a first reduction in overallpower consumption before the audio session begins. To further mitigateaudio interference during the audio session, a second reduction in powerconsumption and/or noise management can be made to at least one of oneor more applications and one or more computer components. The amount ofthe power reductions may be based at least in part on historicalinformation, current environment or state, user preferences, and/orinferences provided by an artificial intelligence component.

When the audio session has been substantially completed, the one or morepower management systems can be signaled to return the respectivecomponents from the minimal interference mode back to their respectiveactivity states (e.g., non-audio session mode). Thus, audio interferenceduring an audio session is mitigated resulting in obtaining high qualityaudio.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connectionwith the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspectsare indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed and the present invention isintended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Otheradvantages and novel features of the invention may become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the invention when considered inconjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a is a block diagram of a system that mitigates interferenceduring a session in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 1 b is a block diagram of a system that mitigates interferenceduring a session in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system that mitigates audio interferenceduring an audio session in accordance with another aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method that mitigates audiointerference during an audio session in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method that mitigates audiointerference during an audio session in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method that mitigates audiointerference during an audio session in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary API that facilitates mitigatingaudio interference during an audio session in accordance with an aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an exemplary API that facilitates mitigatingaudio interference during an audio session in accordance with an aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary environment for implementing variousaspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, thatthe present invention may be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate describing the present invention.

As used in this application, the terms “component” and “system” areintended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software inexecution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being,a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable,a thread of execution, a program, and a computer. By way ofillustration, both an application running on a server and the server canbe a component. One or more components may reside within a processand/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on onecomputer and/or distributed between two or more computers.

As used herein, the term “inference” refers generally to the process ofreasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/oruser from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data.Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, orcan generate a probability distribution over states, for example. Theinference can be probabilistic—that is, the computation of a probabilitydistribution over states of interest based on a consideration of dataand events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed forcomposing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Suchinference results in the construction of new events or actions from aset of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not theevents are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether theevents and data come from one or several event and data sources. Forexample, it is to be appreciated that certain aspects of the inventioncan employ inference engines (e.g., classifiers trained explicitlyand/or implicitly) to perform a probabilistic-based or statistical-basedanalysis as to inferring a user's goals or intentions (as well as acomponent's goals or intentions) in connection with the audiointerference mitigation system described herein. Thus, an audiocomponent can infer an audio session is potentially desired by acustomer based on historical, extrinsic and state information, andperform an action related to the audio session (e.g., to facilitate theoccurrence thereof). Explicit training can be performed on a classifierprior to use, and implicit training can be an on-going training processperformed by a user, for example.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 100 that mitigates interference during ahigh quality communication session is illustrated. The system includessession information 110 which may be received by a session component120. The session information 110 may comprise instructions, directions,commands, and the like which may indicate to the session componentwhether a data session is desired. In particular, the session component120 can determine whether a data session is desired based at least inpart on the session information received either directly or indirectly(e.g., artificial intelligence) from a user and/or component. It is tobe appreciated that a session is intended to include any suitablecommunication forum (e.g., multi-party communications, audio input,audio output, recording of information, video transmission, videorecording, transmitting of information, data transfer . . . ). Moreover,the subject claimed invention is intended to address visual-based and/orstimuli-based types of communication (e.g., video, image transfer,haptics, graphics transfer, vibration, . . . ) wherein variousdevice/system components may have a negative impact on such session.

The session component 120 communicates to a control component 130 that asession is desired. The control component 130 controls and manages atleast in part any number of computer or system components 140 such ascomponent 140 ₁, 140 ₂, and up to 140 _(M). Thus, when a session isdesired, the control component signals a subset of the computercomponents 140 to switch to a minimal interference mode. The controlcomponent may comprise at least one power management system and/or atleast one system control function which manages at least one computercomponent 140 and/or at least one application related thereto.

The minimal interference mode can involve at least one of delayedinterference and reduced interference such that in either case, systemoperations are optimized to perform near or at about the same timesrather than individually at scheduled intervals over a period of time.

An exemplary implementation of the system 100 can involve a hard diskdrive and a fan component. For instance, information 110 relating to thedesire to commence an audio session, for example, is received by thesession component 120. The control component may comprise a first powermanagement system assigned to the hard disk drive and a second powermanagement system assigned to the fan component. In order to switch thehard disk drive to a period of quiet or a minimal interference mode, acache of the system 100 can be flushed or saved to the hard disk drivein order to buffer disk write(s)/read(s) and to mitigate disk accessduring the session. More specifically, a write cache is flushed to freestorage space on the disk(s), thus permitting the maximum amount ofcaching to be available. Flushing the cache in accordance with thepresent invention allows for an optimum amount of storage caching beforethe disk(s) needs to be written again. Furthermore, a prefetch of thedata which can be expected and/or have the potential to be needed iscached from the disk.

Thus, the cache is made available and can be populated with data fromthe audio session. However, when the cache is filled during the audiosession (e.g., a sufficient number of disk calls have been made to fillthe write cache), the hard disk drive can be accessed to flush thecache. However, its accessibility and ability to run for any otherpurpose can be minimized for the length of the session. Hence, the harddisk drive is maintained at the minimal interference mode as instructed.

Likewise, operation of the fan component can occur at random times astriggered by operating temperatures of the computing device. In order toswitch the fan component to the minimal interference mode, the secondpower management system can decrease or throttle performance of thecentral processing unit (CPU) and/or bring into effect any suitablepower reduction that effectively reduces the system heat generated. Thiscan reduce an amount of heat generated in the CPU, which would otherwisecause the fan component to run. Moreover, the reduced activity of thehard disk drive may also contribute to the generation of less heat inthe CPU. As a result, the system 100 reaches a thermal balance and thefan component can be shut down, suspended, and/or its operation delayed,interrupted, and/or minimized for the duration of the session.

Accordingly, it is to be appreciated that the subject inventioncontemplates a variety of types of interference (e.g., vibration, audionoise, optical noise, radiation, magnetic radiation, capacitivecoupling, leakage current, flux . . .) that may interfere with aparticular type of session. The scope of the subject invention asrecited in various of the hereto appended claims is intended toencompass entering components of a system in a minimal interference modeto mitigate interference (such as a subset of that noted above) to aparticular session so as to improve fidelity of the session.

FIG. 1 a illustrates an alternative system 146 in accordance with thesubject invention. The system 146 is similar to that of the system 100and therefore like components will have like reference numbers andredundant discussion with respect thereto is omitted for sake ofbrevity. The session component 120 b, the control component 130 b andthe various system components 140 b further include AI components 152,154 and 156 respectively. The components 140 b can also includefilter(s) 158 which can facilitate effecting minimal interference modein accordance with the subject invention.

The AI components 152, 154, 156 can include classifiers such as forexample a Bayesian classifier, a support vector machine, and/or othertype of classifier and/or other non-linear training system(s). The AIcomponents can facilitate performing inferences and/or utility-baseddeterminations in accordance with the subject invention. For example,the AI component 152 can infer whether of not a session is about tocommence as well perform a utility-based analysis as to whether or notto inform the control component 130 that a session is to be commenced.Various extrinsic factors (e.g., state of user, historical information,type of info. received . . . ) can be employed in connection with theinference/analysis. For example, correctly inferring that a session isabout to commence can optimize effecting minimal interruption mode andmitigate loss of session fidelity at the beginning of the session.Additionally, factoring in the cost of making an incorrect inference canfurther facilitate utility of the invention. The AI components 152, 154and 156 respectively can be trained explicitly as well as implicitly tofacilitate optimal employment of minimal interference mode in accordancewith the subject invention. It is to be appreciated that minimalinterference mode is intended to encompass maximal session fidelity.Thus, various sensing modalities (e.g., microphones, data capturecomponents, . . . ) can be heightened in order to maximize sessionfidelity in accordance with the subject invention. The AI components 154and 158 of the control component 130 b and the various components 140 bcan perform inference and utility-based determinations with respect tothe functionality of their respective components.

The components 140 b can also employ filter(s) 158 in connection witheffecting minimal interference in accordance with the subject invention.For example, if the control component 130 determines that a particularone of the components 142 will interfere with a session but thecomponent is critical to maintaining processing throughput for theoverall system 100, a filter(s) associated with the component can beengaged to mitigate the amount of interference by the component to thesession. For example, if the particular component is a power componentthat emits a first noise at a certain frequency that might interrupt anaudio session and also emits a second noise at another frequency thatmight interfere with a wireless video session, the control component 130could engage a filter designed to dampen the first noise if an audiosession is about to commence or engage another filter designed to dampenthe second noise type is a wireless video session is about to commence.

It is to be appreciated that the various AI components 152, 154 and 156can work in collaboration with the session component 120, controlcomponent 130, filter(s) 158 and other components 140 b in order tooptimize the system 146 for maximum session fidelity.

FIG. 2 demonstrates a system 200 that mitigates audio interferenceduring an audio session. The system 200 includes audio sessioninformation 210 explicitly or implicitly provided by a user. Explicitinformation may be direct instructions from the user indicating that anaudio session is desired. Implicit information can be any number of or aseries of input by the user, which when analyzed, indicate that an audiosession is desired.

An audio component 220 receives the audio session information 210 anddetermines, based at least in part on that information 210, whether anaudio session is desired. The audio component 220 may also signal to anoperating system (not shown) and/or to a control component 230 that anaudio session is about to commence, thus certain measures should betaken in order to ready the operating system and the overall computingdevice (not shown) for a period of quiet for the length of the audiosession. In particular, the control component 230, which is operativelylinked to one or more components 240, can direct one or more of thecomputer components 250 to enter a period of minimal function oroperation before the audio session commences.

The one or more computer components 250 selected may comprise thosecomponents which historically generate audio interference beyond atolerable threshold with respect to high quality audio sessions.Alternatively or in addition, the one or more selected computercomponents 250 may contribute to CPU usage and thus heat generation,thereby causing other computer components to run in order to compensatefor the heat generated within the computing device. Therefore,diminishing the amount of heat generated during the audio sessionreduces the running of temperature-sensitive computer components (e.g.,fan) which are also likely to produce audio interference during theaudio session.

Following the audio session, the control component 240 can instruct theaffected computer components 250 to return to their prior states.Alternatively, some or all of the affected computer components 250 canbe instructed to return to their respective default states, as desiredby the user. The system 200 also includes an artificial intelligence(AI) component 250 operatively coupled to the audio component 220 andthe control component 230. The AI component 250 may facilitatedetermining whether an audio session is desired based at least upon oneor more inferences. In addition, the AI component can identify thecomputer components 240 which can be switched to a minimal interferencemode prior to the commencement of the audio session based at least uponone or more inferences. The inferences can be based in part uponexplicit training of classifier(s) (not shown) before employing thesystem 200 or implicit training based at least upon a user's previousactions, commands, instructions, and the like during use of the system200. Accordingly, a utility-based analysis (e.g., via employment of aprobabilistic and/or statistical based framework) can be employed thatfactors the costs associated with entering a minimal interference modewith the benefits thereof within a reasonable probability or confidencelevel. Thus, for example, the system 200 can control the components 240based at least in part upon a determined and/or inferred state of auser(s) as well as goals of the user(s).

Turning now to FIGS. 3-7, flow diagrams of exemplary methods forcarrying out various aspects of the present invention are illustrated.While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies areshown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood andappreciated that the present invention is not limited by the order ofacts, as some acts may, in accordance with the present invention, occurin different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shownand described herein. For example, those skilled in the art willunderstand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in astate diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required toimplement a methodology in accordance with the present invention.

In FIG. 3, an exemplary method 300 that mitigates interference during adata session in accordance with an aspect of the present invention isdemonstrated. The method 300 involves determining whether a data sessionis desired at 310. If a session is desired, then any number of computercomponents of a system can be switched to a minimal interference mode.Otherwise, at 330, the state of the computing device and its operatingsystem remain as is and/or at its current state until a session isdesired.

FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of an exemplary method 400 that mitigatesaudio interference such as ambient noise within the computing device andany other sounds generated by the computer components during operationthereof while a high quality audio session occurs. The method 400involves receiving extrinsic information at 410 from a callingapplication by way of a user. The extrinsic information may relate to anaudio session. At 420, a probabilistic determination that an audiosession is desired may be performed, such as by an AI component, basedat least in part on the extrinsic information received. At 430, it canbe determined whether an audio session is desired. Such determinationmay be made in part by the probabilistic determination made at 420. Ifan audio session is desired and/or is about to commence, one or morecomponents may be switched to a minimal interference mode at 440 for theduration of the audio session. However, if no audio session is desiredat 430 (450), the method 400 restarts and awaits to receive extrinsicinformation at 410.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method 500 that mitigates audiointerference during an audio session in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention. The method 500 involves determining whether an audiosession is desired at 510. The method 500 remains in stead-state untilan audio session is desired at 510. When an audio session is desired, anoperating system calls an API such as for example a “QUIET_API” tosignal that an audio session is desired and thus appropriatemodifications to the operating system are to be implemented before theaudio session begins. The QUIET_API at 530 involves a series ofinstructions as discussed below with respect to FIG. 6.

When calling the API at 520, it may also be desired to identify one ormore computer components which can be switched to a minimal interferencemode at 540. Following the QUIET_API at 530, the method 500 determinesif the audio session is completed at 550. If the audio session has beencompleted, then the QUIET_API is called at 560 in order to indicate thatthe audio session is completed and to return the affected computercomponents to their respective states as existed prior to the audiosession. The QUIET_API at 570 involves a series or set of instructionsas illustrated in FIG. 7 below which effectively facilitate resumingroutine operational states to the one or more affected computercomponents. However, if the audio session has not been completed, thenthe QUIET_API is not called (570) and the system returns to 550 until atime when the session is substantially completed.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary API 600 or QUIET_API 600 which can beemployed by an operating system in order to bring itself to a period ofminimal interference during a high quality sound session in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention. More specifically, a callingapplication can invoke the QUIET_API 600 as soon as it has beendetermined that an audio session is desired or is about to commence.Thus, one or more running applications can be interrupted, stopped, ordelayed for the length of the audio session.

The QUIET_API 600 involves flushing an operating system's write cache todisk such as a hard disk drive and loading pages relevant and applicableto the calling application to prepare for the audio session (at 610) aswell as any other pages the system can anticipate for any other purpose.At 620, an optional call can be made to a volume shadow API. Calling thevolume shadow API gives the appearance that the operating system isperforming a backup. Thus, programs and their corresponding computercomponents do not run until the backup is completed. If the volumeshadow API is called, any running applications are directed to reach asteady state at 630. In other words, the volume shadow API interruptsthe running application. Therefore, the running application experiencesa period of inactivity or delayed activity until the audio session iscompleted.

If calling the volume shadow API is not desired or the call has alreadybeen made, the QUIET_API 600 can continue at 640 where, for example, apower management system may be called to switch the hard disk drive to aminimal interference mode. The minimal interference mode may compriseshutting down, suspending, slowing down, interrupting, or delayingoperation of the hard disk drive for the length of the audio session oras otherwise determined by the user and/or the calling application. At650, a power management system may be called to temporarily shut down,slow down, interrupt, suspend, or delay operations of one or more othercomputer components which collectively contribute to producing ambientnoise or other random bursts of noise. Hence, the states of suchcomputer components should reflect a minimal interference mode as well.

In addition, the power management system may initiate at least a firstreduction in power consumption to minimize the amount of interferencebefore the audio session begins and a second reduction in powerconsumption during the audio session. For example, before and/or duringthe audio session, the power management system may selectively muteapplications which tend to produce system event time noises.

At 660, the QUIET_API 600 can optionally confirm whether the desiredcomputer components have been switched to the minimal interference mode.At 670, the QUIET_API 600 can return control of the operating systemand/or the computing device as a whole to the calling application sothat the audio session may be performed. The QUIET_API 600 ends at 680.It should be appreciated that the QUIET_API 600 can involve additionalinstructions related to mitigating audio interference during the highquality audio session.

When the audio session has been completed, an exemplary API such as aQUIET_API 700 can be called by the calling application (570 in FIG. 5)in order to remove any affected computer components and/or applicationsfrom the minimal interference mode. The QUIET_API 700 involves returningany affected power profile to its state which existed prior to thecommencement of the audio session (at 710). That is, the one or morecomputer components switched to a minimal interference mode to preparefor the audio session may resume their respective routine or prior powerprofile. In addition, any applications which have been previously mutedor otherwise interrupted may also resume operation.

For example, if the volume shadow API was called (720), blockedapplications can be unblocked at 730. Optionally, the QUIET_API 700 mayconfirm that the affected computer components and/or applications havereturned to their respective states existing prior to the audio session(e.g., state when in non-audio session mode). At 750, control of theoperating system and/or the computing device may be returned to thecalling application.

In order to provide additional context for various aspects of thepresent invention, FIG. 8 and the following discussion are intended toprovide a brief, general description of a suitable operating environment810 in which various aspects of the present invention may beimplemented. While the invention is described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed byone or more computers or other devices, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the invention can also be implemented in combination withother program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, however, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular data types. The operating environment 810 is onlyone example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Other well known computer systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the invention includebut are not limited to, personal computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include the above systems ordevices, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 8, an exemplary environment 810 for implementingvarious aspects of the invention includes a computer 812. The computer812 includes a processing unit 814, a system memory 816, and a systembus 818. The system bus 818 couples system components including, but notlimited to, the system memory 816 to the processing unit 814. Theprocessing unit 814 can be any of various available processors. Dualmicroprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures also can beemployed as the processing unit 814.

The system bus 818 can be any of several types of bus structure(s)including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus orexternal bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available busarchitectures including, but not limited to, 11-bit bus, IndustrialStandard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), ExtendedISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB),Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB),Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer SystemsInterface (SCSI).

The system memory 816 includes volatile memory 820 and nonvolatilememory 822. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basicroutines to transfer information between elements within the computer812, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 822. Byway of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 822 caninclude read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flashmemory. Volatile memory 820 includes random access memory (RAM), whichacts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and notlimitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), anddirect Rambus RAM (DRRAM).

Computer 812 also includes removable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatilecomputer storage media. FIG. 8 illustrates, for example a disk storage824. Disk storage 824 includes, but is not limited to, devices like amagnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zipdrive, LS-100 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick. In addition,disk storage 824 can include storage media separately or in combinationwith other storage media including, but not limited to, an optical diskdrive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive(CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatiledisk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the disk storagedevices 824 to the system bus 818, a removable or non-removableinterface is typically used such as interface 826.

It is to be appreciated that FIG. 8 describes software that acts as anintermediary between users and the basic computer resources described insuitable operating environment 810. Such software includes an operatingsystem 828. Operating system 828, which can be stored on disk storage824, acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system 812.System applications 830 take advantage of the management of resources byoperating system 828 through program modules 832 and program data 834stored either in system memory 816 or on disk storage 824. It is to beappreciated that the present invention can be implemented with variousoperating systems or combinations of operating systems.

A user enters commands or information into the computer 812 throughinput device(s) 836. Input devices 836 include, but are not limited to,a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad,keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TVtuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and thelike. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 814through the system bus 818 via interface port(s) 838. Interface port(s)838 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port,and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 840 use some of thesame type of ports as input device(s) 836. Thus, for example, a USB portmay be used to provide input to computer 812, and to output informationfrom computer 812 to an output device 840. Output adapter 842 isprovided to illustrate that there are some output devices 840 likemonitors, speakers, and printers among other output devices 840 thatrequire special adapters. The output adapters 842 include, by way ofillustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide ameans of connection between the output device 840 and the system bus818. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devicesprovide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s)844.

Computer 812 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s)844. The remote computer(s) 844 can be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, apeer device or other common network node and the like, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to computer 812.For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 846 is illustratedwith remote computer(s) 844. Remote computer(s) 844 is logicallyconnected to computer 812 through a network interface 848 and thenphysically connected via communication connection 850. Network interface848 encompasses communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN)and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber DistributedData Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI),Ethernet/IEEE 1102.3, Token Ring/IEEE 1102.5 and the like. WANtechnologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links,circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks(ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and DigitalSubscriber Lines (DSL).

Communication connection(s) 850 refers to the hardware/software employedto connect the network interface 848 to the bus 818. While communicationconnection 850 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 812, itcan also be external to computer 812. The hardware/software necessaryfor connection to the network interface 848 includes, for exemplarypurposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modemsincluding regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems,ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.

What has been described above includes examples of the presentinvention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivablecombination of components or methodologies for purposes of describingthe present invention, but one of ordinary skill in the art mayrecognize that many further combinations and permutations of the presentinvention are possible. Accordingly, the present invention is intendedto embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to theextent that the term “includes” is used in either the detaileddescription or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpretedwhen employed as a transitional word in a claim.

1. A system that facilitates fidelity of a data transfer session in thesystem that comprises a plurality of computer components, the systemcomprising: a session component that infers and/or determines that thedata transfer session is about to commence; a control component thatinitiates a minimal interference mode to mitigate undesirable ambientnoise and vibration interference in connection withnoise-and-vibration-generating computer components, which are a subsetof the plurality of computer components in response to learning that thedata transfer session is about to commence; a classifier component thatfacilitates effecting the minimal interference mode in accordance with auser's current state and preference; a utility-based analysis componentthat factors benefits associated with correctly entering the minimalinterference mode with cost of incorrectly entering the minimalinterference mode.
 2. The system of claim 1, the data transfer sessioncomprising wireless transfer of data.
 3. The system of claim 1, thesubset of the components comprising filter(s) that are employed tofacilitate mitigating interference by the respective components to thesession.
 4. A method facilitating fidelity in a data transfer session,the method comprising: determining whether the data transfer session isin a process of commencing; in response to the determining, calling anapplication programming interface (API), the API being configured toinstruct components of a computer operating system to enter a minimalinterference mode; initiating the minimal interference mode, wherein theminimal interference mode mitigates interference during the datatransfer session by components of the computer operating system;directing one or more power management systems and/or one or more systemcontrol functions associated with control of components of the computeroperating system, the power management systems and/or the system controlfunctions being configured to bring the respective components to theminimal interference mode; obtaining an optimal employment of theminimal interference mode based on a cost of entering, the obtainedoptimal employment being determined by a utility-based analysiscomponent; factoring in the cost of entering the minimal interferencemode; and signaling the power management systems, the power managementsystems being configured to return, in response to the signaling,respective components of the computer operating system from the minimalinterference mode back to an original activity state.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the utility-based analysis component is an artificialintelligence component.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the componentsof the computer operating system comprise at least one of anapplication, a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a disk cache, aspeaker, a fan, and a CD-ROM drive.
 7. The method of claim 4, whereinthe power management system implements at least a first power reductionin overall power consumption before the data transfer session commences.8. The method of claim 4, wherein the power management system implementsa second power reduction in overall power consumption during the datatransfer session.
 9. The method of claim 4, wherein the power managementsystem is based at least in part on one or more of historicalinformation, current state, user preference and interferences providedby an artificial intelligence component.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the noise-and-vibration-generating computer components includecomponents which generate undesirable ambient noise and vibrationinterference.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein thenoise-and-vibration-generating computer components include at least oneof a floppy disk drive, a disk cache, a hard disk drive, a speaker, afan, an optical drive, a DVD-ROM drive, or a CD-ROM drive.